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Since You Asked: CPSD bond to be paid off in 2020 Monday Apr 3, 2017 at 12:01 AM When does the school improvement bond we passed years ago for Central Point School District 6 improvements end and quit coming out of our taxes? — Karl G., via email The final bond payment isn’t due until June 15, 2020, which means it will appear on your property tax statement for the last time in fall 2019. The original $29 million bond, approved by voters in 2000, funded the construction of the Crater Performing Arts Center and the new Central Point Elementary School, as well as the remodel of the original 1908 brick CPE schoolhouse into district offices and Hanby Middle School, among other things. The Central Point School District has since refinanced the bond twice, saving taxpayers about $2.7 million over the life of the bond debt, said Superintendent Samantha Steele. As of 2016, the district’s bond rate was $1.1433 per $1,000 of assessed property value. For a $300,000 home in Central Point, the bond payment is about $343 annually or $28.57 monthly, explained Spencer Davenport, the district’s manager of financial services. It is important to note the difference between a school district’s permanent rate and bond rate, Karl. The school district, Steele said, is often criticized for having a higher permanent rate than the Ashland, Medford, Phoenix-Talent and Rogue River school districts. However, the permanent rate is set by the state, under Measure 5, and goes into the state’s general education pot to be distributed to districts according to their enrollment. Whereas the bond rate is the amount the district has permission from voters to levy annually to pay the principal and interest on its bonded debt on capital projects. We understand that you're excited that the end is in sight, Karl, but we also need to inform you that the school district will very likely go out for another bond in the near future to pay for improvements to some of its older buildings, including Jewett Elementary, Scenic Middle School and Crater High School, which, according to district officials, are in dire need of repairs. Send questions to “Since You Asked,” Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by email to [email protected]. We’re sorry, but the volume of questions received prevents us from answering all of them.